Bill Berkeley ("An Encore for Chaos?") has been an Alicia
Patterson fellow in Africa. He has previously reported for The Atlantic
from Liberia, Zaire, Uganda, and South Africa. He lives in New York.

Sven Birkerts ("The Alchemist's Retort") is the author of four books of essays,
including The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic
Age (1993). He is editing an anthology titled The Millennial Muse:
Imagination in the Brave New World, to be published this fall.

Stephen L. Carter ("The Insufficiency of Honesty") is the William Nelson
Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale University and the author of The Culture
of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion
(1994). Carter's article in this issue of The Atlantic is adapted from
his book Integrity, to be published by Basic Books next month.

Dennis Drabelle ("A Gift for Dialogue") writes about fiction, movies, and the
environment. His reviews appear regularly in The Washington Post.

James Fallows ("Why Americans Hate the Media") is The Atlantic's
Washington editor. He is the author of More Like Us (1989) and
Looking at the Sun (1994). Fallows's article in this issue of The
Atlantic is taken from his book Breaking the News: How the Media
Undermine American Democracy, to be published this month by Pantheon.

Garrison Keillor ("The Poetry Judge") is the host of the Public Radio
International show A Prairie Home Companion. His books include Lake
Wobegon Days (1985), Leaving Home (1987), WLT:A Radio Romance
(1992), and TheBook of Guys (1993).

Stephen Kroninger (cover art) is a photo-collagist who lives in New York City.
Recently he animated a collage for The Beat Experience, a CD-ROM
produced in conjunction with the Whitney Museum. Kroninger's work has been the
subject of a one-person show at New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Cullen Murphy ("Fair Trade") is the managing editor of The Atlantic.

Lucia Perillo ("The Body Mutinies") teaches creative writing at Southern
Illinois University. Her poem in this issue of The Atlantic is the title
poem of her new collection, to be published next month.

Marsha Rabe ("Albert and the Animals") is the director of publications at
Southern Connecticut State University. Her articles have appeared in The New
York Times. This is her first published fiction.

Jonathan Silvers ("Child Labor in Pakistan") is a writer and an independent
television producer specializing in international affairs and human-rights
issues.

Steven Stark ("Right-Wing Populist") writes about politics and popular culture
and is a commentator on National Public Radio. He is completing a book about
the most influential programs in television's history.

Andrew Todhunter ("The Precipitous World of Dan Osman") is a writer who lives
in California.